The former Davao mayor has said he would be a leftist president who
would chart a foreign policy not dependent on the United States.

He has pointed out the benefits of nurturing friendly relations with
Beijing, including a Chinese offer of financing railway projects in the
Philippines. The country has had frosty ties with China under Duterte's
predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, who bolstered security ties with the
U.S. to deter China's assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.

Despite his remarks, there has been no indication that he would move
to change the country's robust defense ties with the United States.

In the Philippines, Duterte has given allies of communist rebels at
least two key posts in his Cabinet as part of an effort to forge a peace
deal with the insurgents, who are labeled terrorists by Washington.

Duterte's speech centered on his plan to open peace talks with two
large Muslim rebel groups in the southern Mindanao region, homeland of
minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation. Duterte's plan
includes shifting to a federal system of government that would give more
autonomy and resources to impoverished regions like Mindanao. He called
on Muslims to back his efforts.

"As a nation, we must sit down," he said. "Why will we kill each other?"

In the case of Abu Sayyaf militants, Duterte said he would not lump
them with criminals, saying "these were the guys who were driven to
desperation." He did not say how he would try to deal with the
extremists although he has warned them in recent weeks to stop a wave of
ransom kidnappings or face "a reckoning one of these days."

Washington and Manila list the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization
that has carried out for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings over the
last three decades."